1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cardholder of a pocket sized card and to a technique for a fresnel magnifying lens that is pocket sized so as to be within easy reach by a person and is shaped as a cardholder for carrying a standardized card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pocket sized magnifiers and, particularly, fresnel lens magnifiers have been incorporated into various objects. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,412,199 and 5,434,405, both issued in 1995, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,203, issued in 1997, which were granted to A. Finkelstein et al, feature a technique incorporating a fresnel magnifier into a machine readable, financial card. This card is capable of accommodating encoded data and graphics as required by financial institutions. The fresnel magnifying window serves as a visual aid to help its users to check the accuracy of the printed receipts such as at points of sale.
There are other known/conventional schemes involving a fresnel magnifier. For example, in 1977, U.S. Pat. No. 4,044,889 was granted to Orentreich et al for a fresnel magnifier that is incorporated into a part of a lipstick cap and a cosmetic container top to magnify the small print on a separate part of the container. In 1974, U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,917 was granted to R. Barbour for a box and viewer assembly for viewing slides with a fresnel magnifier. In 1964, U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,883 was granted to R. L. Anthony for a book cover with a fresnel magnifier. In 1968, U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,347 was granted to R. Vogel for a pocket fresnel magnifier in a transparent case with an opaque liner for accepting advertising messages. Additionally, in 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,680 was granted to M. Ueno for a card case with a magnifying glass, the card case being composed of an outer sheet as well as an inner sheet and the three edges of both the inner as well as the outer sheet are securely attached such as by adhesive, sewing and the like. In 1995, U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,347 was granted to A. J. Galiani for a lens magnification system for use with booklets to magnify printed matter on selected pages for reading. Moreover, in 1999, the present inventor was granted two U.S. Patents, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 5,986,823, issued Nov. 16, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,336, issued Dec. 7, 1999.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,986,823, the present inventor disclosed a fresnel magnifying lens for forming a hand-held, pocket-sized hybrid assembly of the lens and another object or objects. The fresnel magnifying lens is provided with a hole for use with a fastener to detachably or permanently couple the lens to another object such as a credit card, debit card, smart card, telecards, pocket calendars, magnetic note holders, etc., in a manner which allows a selective magnifying hand-held viewing, through the lens, of both that other object, as well as other, different objects. In. U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,336, entitled, “Fresnel Magnifying Lens Cardholder,” the present inventor disclosed a credit card holder dimensioned to fit standardized cards and consisting, basically, of a back plate made, for example, by injection molding with two parallel J-shaped tracks to which a fresnel lens is attached to form a magnifying lens credit cardholder.